, 1887-02-27
The DRUGGISTS PECULIAR ORDERS.
Curious Mistakes In Names Made by APP
pIicnnts for Medicines.

piituuts y NHCOiuAhcs
A Cambridgeport druggist has made a
practice for some years Of saving in u
scrap book some Of the most peculiar or
dcrs which he receives. 1--WE are asked
for some rather strange things" he said
to the writer, ''but we car generally
guess what is wanted Many people ex-
pect a druggist IL prescribe for their all
ments, rs it saves physicians charges.
and the diagnoses Of complaints which
come to us are often amusing. Look at
these: Send me some Of the essence you
put people to sleep with when you cut
their fingers off, That evidently mean
ether. Il want something to take tobac-
co out of my mouth OF course the
scent of tobacco was the thing objected
to. Send me q baby's top to q nursing
bottle means, without doubt, a nursing
bottle top. AN ounce Of the smelling
stuff that goes through your brain de-
scribes very well the effect OF jnhaling
ammonia. Something for a sore baby's
eye is not easy TO mistake, though stated
rather oddly, Here is u startling order
for enough ipecac to throw up a girl
4 years old cannot help sympathiz-
ing with this person, who asks for
enough aniseseed to take the twist out Of
u dose of senna.' Hero is a request for
q plaster for n man kilt with stitches. ,
Perhaps the ono who wrote this order
for something for q caustic woman
built better than he knew. Here is an
order for something for a heavy pain in
the bones that is coming out through the
eyes The person who wrote for some
thing to take n mans breath away did
not intend murder or suicide, but merely
wished for cardamom seed or something
of that nature. l sent a liniment to this
lady, who asked for something to rub
my old man with Not a bad descrip-
ton of n p~oultice is the order for enough
1axseed to make a pudding for a sore
toe This child, who had IAN impress
sion on his heart and a cough that is
choking him in the neck ought to have
been taken to d doctor, as well as this
other one who, his mother wrote, was
.heaving up and down and every way
Here is a request for something to knock
a cold out of an old woman. The next
one seems to be in hard condition. She
desires something for a woman who has
a bad cough and cannot cough No
druggist would hesitate for a minute to
fill this order: Something, l forget the
name, but tits for a cure Our own
preparation will just fill the bill in such
a case. But what should we send for a
'swelled woman's foot IA man with a
dry spit on him and "a woman whose
appetite is loose on herr
I'VE got used to phonetic spelling"
pursued the druggist, ''and are very
seldom unable to arrive at a fair con-
clusion OF what is wanted, even by the
blindest writers. Here are orders fol-
penny garick, parry garlic and paddy
garlic, which procured paregoric in each
case. These orders for b~arnegat, verg-
mount and bugmint were filled with
bergamot; these requests for come ear
back, gun mare back, garmariback
comearaback and ram back called foi
gum arabic; these asking for camfer and
campfire meant camphor; worm me fugt
and barmafug meant vermifuge, q
course; where our customers Sr7reer
for epicot, metick, epicack, aE-3ic
epicat we have delivered rpecacuanha;
the persons WIZ for honey quintom,
J h~- ONT, Annie Quintom and Ann
Grintom got unguentum; otherwise
called blue ointment; orders for lodnom,
lad mum and lord warm we filled with
ifiId2tiltlll. III bdihl VI tihJ We Gil
~spermaceti; those who wanted high
strips got hive syrup; this fellow who
wrote for paint killer received pain killer;
l knew that bubben wisky meant bour-
bon whisky, that air root meant arrow
root, and that bitter Alice meant bitter
aloes. l sent Arabian balsam instead of
raving balsam to this man, corrosive
sublimate instead of a gross of supple
ments to that one, and cherry pectoral
instead of cherry pickerel to this other.
| substituted syrup of squills in these
orders for sharp squil and strip of swill,
sent Ayers pills to this man who asks
for ear pill. EPSON salts to the n who
wrote for lapson salt, and some cubebs
instead of cupids to the other. Not hav-
ing any glory farm on hand, ! took the
liberty of filling this order with chloro-
form, and being out of flack seed and
flack sed I sent fiaxseed in that one.
when l got these orders for OK sled
acid and horrid lime, l sent oxalic acid
and chlorate of lime. This man asks for
McCordon seed and this one for carman
seed, but l gave cardamom seeds to each.
Many orders come in where one syllable
is mistaken for a conjunction, as churrup
and quill, for syrup Of squills; check and
berry, for checkerberry; gold and thread,
for golden thread; spit and turkletine, for
spirits OF turpentine; balm and gilead, for
balm of Gilead; hope and dildock, for
op~odeldoc. People who wish for borax
write for boerncks, bowrux, bow rax and
bow wax. We get orders for Arnold's
blossom, instead of balsam; Halls hair
manure for renewer, and Burnett's
'cocarine, instead of cocoaine. Custom
ers who want lovage write for love itch.
Those who desire ~licorice write for luck
rich, logrish, lickrish and stickrish. Here
is a woman who wants five cents worth
of cologne to smell a trunk. Another
asks for a mixture which shall be two
thirds alcohol and two-thirds castor oil.
This one wants something to make catnip
tea from. and the other asks for ten cents
worth of Mary attic acid. Boston
Herald.